Portora’s Junior 18 eights are Irish Champions for the first time since 1980 after triumphing at the annual Irish Rowing Championships in Cork.

The victory ahead of St Joseph’s, Galway was the highlight of a hugely successful championships for the Enniskillen club, as they captured four gold medals, two silver and a bronze.

“Everyone was elated,” admitted Robert Northridge of Portora Boat Club. “It’s been quite a long time since we last did it. We have been second for the last few years, so we have been there or thereabouts. We have been nearly there with very good crews in the past but other crews have just happened to be better on the day for the last few years. We had hoped we would do it this year but you are talking about four seconds in six minutes which is maybe only half a per cent better than the next crew. It is such tiny, tiny margins at all these things that you know you have a chance, but until you actually cross the line ahead you haven’t won.” The Men’s Junior 18 eight is always the most fiercely contested event at the championships and is notoriously difficult to win and Ulster Champions Portora knew they would need to be at their very best to win.

Lining up on the start line conditions were perfect for fast racing and the boys flew took an early lead, going through the 500m mark with a two metre canvas advantage over St. Joseph’s. A push was called and the boys moved this out to a full length lead by the 750m to go mark. Coming into the last 500 metres Portora strokeman and boys captain Ewan Murray brought the stroke rate up and powered his crew to the line. Portora moved away with every stroke and the winning crew of Ewan Murray, Chris Irvine, Sam Armstrong, Josh Kennedy, Tom Mills, Barney Rix, Connor Keys, Ryan Ballantine and cox Michael Woodhouse crossed the line a length and a half in front of St Joseph’s.

The club continued their success throughout the three day competition. Friday saw the girls’ Junior 16 eight taking to the water to successfully defend their title from last year, and the second eight claimed third place in the same event. Portora powered away from Galway rowing club through the midway point of the race to record a comfortable three length victory. The second eight was nipping at the heels of Galway the whole way down the course and came in a creditable one length adrift. In the J15 1x category Callum Baker had a fine row and claimed a Gold medal in his final of the event.

Saturday was a chance for the girls J18 8 to try and go one better than their silver medal from the previous year. The crew from Cork Boat Club with six members of the junior European championship squad proved to be too strong on the day and recorded a half a length win over Portora who claimed another silver medal. The men’s J18 squad had a chance of another championship this time in the coxed four category. The race was extremely tight throughout the first 1500m and the last 500m proved to be slightly too fast for the lads who finished in bronze medal position, two seconds off gold. The men’s J16 eight took to the water keen to follow the success of the J18 eight from the day before. With three members of that eight in the 16 boat the lads had a fantastic race and blew the opposition away to finish 17 seconds clear of second place.

The final day’s action saw the Junior 18 eight from Saturday move up to the Women’s Club category against clubs and universities.

After a comfortable heat the girls raced hard through the final to enter the last 500m level with National University Ireland Galway and one length clear of Queens University. The NUIG boat with girls six years older than the Portora junior boat proved to be just too fast over the last few strokes and the girls again claimed a silver medal. The men’s J18 two of Ewan Murray and Chris Irvine knew their main opposition would be Presentation College Cork who are selected to row in the European Junior Championships for Ireland. Leading them through the 1000m mark the Portora boat clung on to first place until the last few hundred metres when the pace became slightly too much for them. A silver medal finish was a great result for this crew given how little time they have had to train in the boat. There was also success for Enniskillen’s Gerry Murphy at the event with Gerry claiming the Irish Masters title at the weekend for a seventh time.

The weekend was rounded off with the presentation of the President’s Prize by Boat Club President Sir Tony Hart to winners Alice Beacom and Ewan Murray.

The medal successes were the result of many hours of dedication from not only the students who have been training seven or eight times a week since September, but everyone else involved with the club. “These things don’t just appear out of nowhere,” said Robert. “It’s the culmination of our new regime with Derek Holland and the other team of coaches who have been working at it over a long period. It’s a team effort. There is the coaching team and the support that we have had from the school and the community, and the parents who have helped support it in all sorts of ways.” Training for the club recommences on Saturday September 13 at 9am and new members of girls and boys at any school in Enniskillen from second year upwards are very welcome.